Bloody Poetry Themes

Bloody Poetry is about the destructive effect that conventional society has on the rebellious artist. Byron and Bysshe seek to free themselves from the bonds of bourgeois sexual morality. Bysshe, for example, leaves his wife and lives openly with his lover Mary, their child, and Mary’s half sister Claire; the public outcry forces the group into exile. Bysshe marries Mary after his first wife, Harriet, commits suicide, but he continues to sleep with any woman who pleases him, even the pregnant Claire. He practices sexual freedom, yet cannot feel free. He is haunted by Harriet’s ghost, who says to him as he plans a rendezvous with Claire, “When you touch her, tonight, you can remember touching me, and you will, won’t you, husband.”

Society’s reaction against Byron’s sexual involvement with his sister Augusta has caused him to flee England as well. A priapic bisexual, Byron sleeps indiscriminately with boys, virginal girls, and married women. He has made Claire pregnant, but he refuses to take any responsibility for his daughter—except to send her away to a convent, where she dies. He suffers from alcoholism and syphilis. His affairs with married women do not make him happy, and he receives death threats from his lovers’ husbands. As he explains, “’Tis all exceedingly wearing on the nerves.”

The consequences of rebellion against conventional sexual morality are even worse for the women. One of Bysshe’s early...

(The entire section is 485 words.)

Get Free Access

Start your free trial with eNotes for complete access to this resource and thousands more.

30,000+ Study Guides

Save time with thousands of teacher-approved book and topic summaries.